Palo Alto Weekly

News Digest

City to celebrate Earth Day with festival

The city of Palo Alto is gearing up for this Saturday's Earth Day Festival and sixth annual Great Race for Saving Water. The event includes live music, food trucks, raffle prizes, community booths and running events, among other activities.

Held at the Palo Alto Baylands, the event has served to raise awareness about environmental resources and sustainability to the community since 2013, according to Catherine Elvert, utilities communication manager for the city of Palo Alto.

Palo Alto Mayor Eric Filseth will kick off the event by underscoring all of the sustainability achievements the city has had over its lifespan, Elvert said.

There will also be a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the beginning of the festival for the completion of a major flood control project along San Francisquito Creek.

The Santa Clara Valley Water District also has announced trails that will be reopened in time for Saturday's event, including ones that stretch from East Bayshore Road to Geng Road, Geng Road to Friendship Bridge and Friendship Bridge to the bay and north of Friendship Bridge.

The festival and race are scheduled for Saturday, April 13, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Palo Alto Baylands Athletic Center located at 1900 Geng Road. For more information about the event, go to cityofpaloalto.org.

—Christian Trujano

Caltrain commuter exposes riders to measles

For the fourth time in less than two weeks, public health officials are warning the public of possible exposure to measles — this time involving a Santa Clara County resident who traveled to San Francisco via Caltrain, the San Francisco Department of Public Health said Tuesday.

The commuter, an adult contagious with measles while visiting San Francisco last week.

The Santa Clara County resident traveled on Caltrain during the morning commute on April 1 and evening rush hour on April 3. The time frames released by the Department of Public Health account for the resident's time spent at each place and time window of exposure to others.

On April 1, the individual sat in the first car (car 116) of northbound Caltrain train No. 319 between 6:56-8:13 a.m. The window for potential exposure extended roughly from 8:45-9:15 a.m. as the train was heading southbound as Caltrain No. 232.

The individual stayed in San Francisco on April 2, spending a majority of the day at the Phillip Burton Federal Building in the city's Civic Center from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and visiting three eateries: Johnny Doughnuts from 8-9:30 a.m., Hayes Valley Bakeworks from 8-10 a.m. and Double Decker Restaurant from 6:30-8 p.m.

On the afternoon of April 3, the traveler visited the San Francisco Caltrain station at 700 Fourth St., between 3-4:30 p.m.

The individual took southbound Caltrain train No. 258, sitting in the second car from the back (car 3861) from 3:34-5:10 p.m. Passengers heading southbound on Caltrain No. 279 from 5:32-6:15 p.m. also may have been exposed.

Most people are immune to the disease if they were given the measles vaccine as children, public health officials said.

More information on the measles can be found at sfcdcp.org and sccgov.org.

—Palo Alto Weekly Staff

County aims to boost voter turnout

More than 900,000 eligible voters in Santa Clara County will receive ballots in the mail for the March 2020 primary election in a statewide effort to increase voter participation.

County supervisors on Tuesday approved implementation of the Voter's Choice Act model, which became state law in 2016 under then-Gov. Jerry Brown. Five counties piloted the model in 2018, including Napa, San Mateo and Sacramento counties. The successful pilot program revealed a significant jump in turnout and faster vote tabulation by as much as two weeks.

The model allows residents to submit their ballots by mail and drop-off centers, but traditional polling places will be replaced by Vote Centers, which will offer replacement ballots, accessible voting machines, registration services and assistance.

The county will open 125 Vote Centers for all residents, instead of polling places for specific neighborhoods or precincts. About 25 will be open 10 days before the election and 100 will be open three days before.

The system overhaul will cost about $2 million, with approximately $5 million in ongoing costs.

—Bay City News

This story contains 692 words.

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